Roxanne St. Claire - Make Her Pay

But that wasn’t what stopped him from doing what he-and Lizzie-wanted to do. At least he could admit that truth.

Running his hand through his hair, he grabbed the satellite phone, dropped onto the bed, inhaled enough to get a whiff of Lizzie’s perfume, and dialed.

She answered on the first ring. “You didn’t call yesterday.”

He laughed softly at the greeting. “So that rumor’s true.”

“There are a lot of them. Which rumor are you testing?”

“That Lucy Sharpe answers her private line 24/7.”

“For now it is,” she said. “But you’ve probably heard the rumor that my 24/7 days are numbered.”

He’d heard she was pregnant but doubted that would slow her down much. “Until they are, I’m afraid I have to take advantage and wake you to tell you what’s going on here.”

“It’s about time. I told you to check in daily.” “Trust me, Luce, that’s the least of the regs I’ve been wrecking.”

“Great.”

In the background he heard movement and a soft comment from a man. Jack Culver, her partner in every way. He waited, imagining the lithe, long-haired woman leaving her bed to walk down the hall to her office.

“All right. Talk to me, Con.”

“There is someone on this boat who knows we’re salvaging El Falcone , and she’s already located one of the diamonds, kept it for herself, is planning to do the same with the scepter it was separated from, then is going to take it to the mainland and hide it until the other is found.”

“Whoa. Good work. Nice and fast, too. Who is it and what’s your plan?”

“Elizabeth Dare.”

She waited a beat. “And your plan?”

“My plan is to help her recover the scepter and help her hide it on the mainland.”

She was stone silent.

“Because she’s not the person he’s looking for.”

“She’s not? Sounds like she is.”

“She’s not. She does have an agenda and it isn’t friendly to Paxton, but she’s not stealing any treasure.”

“You just said she has one of the diamonds and scepters.”

“Any other treasure. The leak of treasure and information is Flynn Paxton, aided by Alita Holloway. I just went to great pains-swimming in cold water and testing my exemplary ‘recovery’ skills-to prove that, taking something back that he’d stolen earlier this evening.”

It was quiet, but for a paper shuffling in the background. “Elizabeth Dare is the daughter of the late Malcolm Dare,” she said.

“She’s not our target, Lucy. Her issues are personal and family driven. I can keep an eye on her.”

“Sounds like you already have been.”

Resentment bubbled. “Not to the point of blindness,” he shot back. “If I don’t work with her, she’ll do what she wants anyway. This way, I know exactly where the treasures are and have her under my thumb.”

“That’s a plan, although not my first choice. What about Flynn?”

“Depends. How will our client take finding out the thief and traitor is his stepson?”

“Hard to say. They have a volatile history, and Judd’s trying to mend fences with him. They’ve had a rocky relationship since Judd married Flynn’s mother about ten years ago. Giving him responsibility for this dive is Judd’s way of showing he thinks Flynn has potential to run the business, but in my opinion, Judd has no real intention of leaving his fortunes and reputation to his stepson.”

“Flynn probably knows that and is taking what he can get, when he can get it,” Con said, encouraged by Lucy’s willingness to see the whole story and not jump to the obvious conclusions. “If anyone has an outside contact and is selling items taken from this dive before they get logged into the Paxton system, it’s Flynn.”

“But you’re certain it’s not this lovely blonde with big brown eyes and a sexy body?”

“You have a picture or you taking an educated guess?”

She laughed softly. “I guessed on the body.”

“And correctly. What’s probably not in that file is why she’s doing it, of her family’s connection to the ship. El Falcone was captained by Aramis Dare, her great-times-seven or so grandfather. She’s on a personal mission to finish her father’s life’s work. Nothing nefarious.”

“Except stealing a priceless treasure and taking it off the boat to hide it.”

“Okay, a little nefarious. But I don’t want you to get all bent out of shape over Lizzie when the real target is Flynn. I just need a little more time to prove it, since Judd will undoubtedly want a lot of irrefutable evidence against a family member. While I’m at it, I think it’s smart to be sure that diamond gets off this boat, along with the scepter, and that I know exactly where it is so I can return it to the client when we’re done.”

Lucy was quiet for a moment. “Compelling argument.”

“Just a smart one.”

“Still, I’m going to dig a little into Lizzie Dare’s background, check out her story, and her family.”

“Good idea.” He doubted she’d find anything.

“And I agree with you,” she continued. “By knowing exactly what she has and where she’s hiding it, we’re actually doing a service for our client. But Con, if that diamond and scepter are not returned to Judd Paxton, you will be held responsible.”

So she still didn’t quite trust him. How come Lizzie was so certain he was one of the good guys, and Lucy was still on the fence?

Because Lucy was a better judge of character.

“Oh, and Con? Pirates and thieves don’t make good partners.”

LIZZIE STEPPED OUT of the head and blinked at the sight of Con sitting on her bunk, more stunned that he’d gotten in through her locked door without making a sound than the fact that she wore nothing but a bra and sleep pants.

“You should be dressed,” he said, his gaze hot on her chest as she gaped at him. “Not that I mind.”

“How did you get in here?”

“Trade secret.” He tossed her a T-shirt from the bed. “I told you to be ready at three.”

A little frisson of irritation skittered over her at his tone. This was her secret plan, and he’d hijacked ownership of it ever since she’d shown him the diamond.

“You’ll need a jacket, too,” he said. “It’s colder tonight than last night.”

“You were up there already?”

He pointed up. “Listen. You hear anything?”

She stood still, frowning as she absorbed the normal sounds of the boat. “No.”

“Good. The air compressor’s on.”

“It is? I was worried about that. It seems so noisy during the dives.” She pulled the sweatshirt over her head. “How did you do that?”

“I rigged it up so that it’s not vibrating the deck. That’s what the noise is, not the actual compressor. Let’s go. Everyone’s asleep. I want to do this fast.”

He wanted to do it. “Then let me dive. I can find that thing in my sleep.”

“In the time it would take you to put on a wet suit, I’ll have the scepter in my hand.”

Possibly. In their earlier dive that morning, when they were supposed to be treasure hunting, she timed him moving the ballast stones and the dirt to get to the scepter. It had taken about four minutes. A minute down and a minute up meant six total.

“You really are going to do this with no wet suit?”

“Of course. I can last six minutes in fifty-nine degrees. I checked the water temperature already.”

“But-”

He put his finger over her lips. “Not another word. Even on the deck. We go up, hookah in, you keep watch, and I’ll dive.”

He led her down the hall. Barefoot, they didn’t make a sound, and heard nothing until they reached the main deck. The compressor hummed softly from a new spot, resting on rubber strips. He’d already hooked in the air hose and the reserve tank.